Cracks me up

If you need a laugh and have not checked out Mrs. Bickerson’s site in a while, she is on a roll.   

Check her out.

Make a wish

Do you have one?

A bin full of it

Today Jen spent almost the whole day at my house helping me clean out my front hall closet.  It was a mess.  We had two hours before any kids would have to be picked up from school, we had to hurry. 

It was not enough time.  So we picked them all up, fed them, then caved and allowed them to watch a mid afternoon movie so we could get the job done.  Everything was out, open, in large piles ALL OVER THE LIVING ROOM.  It had to get done.

I couldn’t believe the amount of garbage.  Jen is really good at throwing things away, I’m not.  That’s why I enlist her expertise.  She and my mother in law would rival each other as to who could/would and wants to clean out their closets most often.  They have been born with a way to cut through the crap with laser like precision; again I don’t have that skill.

By the end of the day the closet was clean and ready to become my new “War Room”.  This will be the place where all the kid’s school and outerwear items have a home.  There will be a white board to post all school activities, wall pockets for all their homework, mail slots for us, places to hang backpacks and coats and bins for hats and mittens.  Ohhhh the joy!

As we were trudging through the knee high piles of shit I said to Jen, “It’s not like I’m a disorganized person, I don’t get how this happens.”  Her response, “You know how you think my messy handwriting doesn’t fit how anal (that’s my descriptor) I am, I feel the same about you and your closets.”

What doesn’t seem to mesh with the way you live?

It’s gone

She would not let the doctor touch it.

She would not let me touch it.

She would not let Adam touch it.

So after four months…she chewed it off.

Chit chat

PJ and I were on a bike ride yesterday.  She was telling me a little about school, who she plays with, what they play, that she really does know what the teacher is saying to her.

Then she asked, “Why did you send me there?”

My response was, “We felt it was the best gift we could ever give you, the gift of a second language.”

She said nothing for a long time.  As a matter of fact, I think she’s still thinking about it.

School lunch

KP and I swung by school to have lunch with PJ today. 

I thought it would be a good idea.  I thought it would be fun.  I thought she would enjoy having us there sharing a meal with her new classmates.

I was wrong.  She was not ready for home to collide with school.

There were A LOT of tears and carrying-on when we tried to leave. 

Really…there is nothing more heart wrenching than turning away from your child when all they really want is you.

Ready for action captain

Here he is…the littlest one to fly the coupe. 

So ready and so excited for his first day of preschool.

Not a problem in the world today.  He took school by storm and then sang me a song and showed me all the things he did.

We both had a wonderful morning.

A surprising universal language

I brought the kids to the park yesterday afternoon.  And since I had had enough of their shenanigans for one day, I brought my knitting project.  That way if they wanted something, I could lift up my knitting and they would know I was busy and they had to figure it out themselves. 

Many of the usual suspects were there, including the Chinese grandmother of one of the younger boys.  I see her all the time, I try my best to say hello in Chinese and she nods a nice hello and smiles.  But yesterday when I had my knitting out, she came over to the bench, sat down, looked it over, along with the pattern and then took it out of my hands and started working on it.   

She got to a point where she stopped and showed me what she had done, how it was different than mine and then how to do it.  As she was showing me she was explaining everything in Chinese while I was answering in English, oh how I wish I had had my camera mounted on the monkey bars to catch the view. 

Her gesture was so sweet and touching and grandmotherly, how lucky I am to have experienced that moment with her.  I should bring my knitting down more often.

So many spiders

Is it the rain?

The time of year?

They are all over the place.

Raised by wolves (or a 5 & 7 year old)

It has only taken me one day to figure out that I have done KP a complete disservice by having him third in the line up. However, it’s not like there is anything I could really do about it. 

You see, after he came along, it was all about keeping my head above water.  So the other two played with him and taught him “stuff” and cut him a bunch of slack for being the baby.  And me, well hell, I just let it go unless someone was bleeding.

And now…now this kid is in for 100% mama.  It might be a little hard toeing the company line in the beginning, you know things like: not hitting, not ripping books to shreds, not putting play dough in the baby pool, not licking cds, not helping clean up around the house, not wanting to wear big boy pants, not chewing dart tops off and spitting the pieces up all over the family room, not using your words, stuff like that.

Well it’s over my little pretty, because now I have nothing but time FOR YOU!